''Too Late Blues'' is a 1961 black-and-white American film directed by John Cassavetes and starring Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens and Everett Chambers. It is the story of jazz musician "Ghost" Wakefield and his relationship with both his fellow band members and his love interest, Jess, a beautiful would-be singer. The film was written by Cassavetes and Richard Carr. It was the first film that Cassavetes produced for a major Hollywood studio,

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, and Darin's first nonsinging role.

Plot

"Ghost" Wakefield is the leader of a struggling jazz band. At a party he meets the attractive singer Jess, who is in a relationship with the Ghost's agent, Benny. At Ghost's insistence, she joins the band, and he begins a relationship with her, antagonizing Benny. Benny arranges for the band to cut a record. In a party at a bar celebrating the recording session, Benny encourages a tough guy, Tommy, to pick a fight with the band. Ghost avoids fighting, causing a rift with Jess. She leaves the band, and it breaks up. Ghost becomes the protege of a rich patron, playing the piano in night clubs, his career in decline, while the rest of the band plays inferior music to make a living. Ghost locates Jess, who has become a prostitute, and goes with her to the other band members, who reject him but begin playing their old music with Jess singing.

Cast

* Bobby Darin as John "Ghost" Wakefield * Stella Stevens as Jess Polanski *Everett Chambers as Benny Flowers * Nick Dennis as Nick Bubalinas * Vincent Edwards as Tommy * Val Avery as Milt Frielobe *Marilyn Clark as The Countess *James Joyce as Reno Vitelli *

Rupert Crosse Rupert may refer to: People * Rupert (name), various people known by the given name or surname "Rupert" Places Canada *Rupert, Quebec, a village *Rupert Bay, a large bay located on the south-east shore of James Bay *Rupert River, Quebec *Rupert' ...

as Baby Jackson *Mario Gallo as Recording engineer *J. Alan Hopkins as Skipper *Cliff Carnell as Charlie *Richard O. Chambers as Pete *

Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Cassel first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering in ...

as Red *Dan Stafford as Shelley *

Slim Gaillard Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (January 9, 1911 – February 26, 1991), also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singing ...

as himself

Special recordings by (as listed in opening credits)

Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...

, Drums *

Red Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927 – November 8, 1992) was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. Biography Mitchell was born in New York City. His younger brother, Whitey Mitchell, also became a jazz ba ...

, Bass * Jimmy Rowles,

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Benny Carter, Saxophone *

Uan Rasey Uan Rasey (August 22, 1921 – September 27, 2011)Obituaries
''

Milt Bernhart, Trombone

Production

The film's musical score was by David Raksin, and was performed by eminent musicians, including Benny Carter. Cassavetes wanted Montgomery Clift and

Gena Rowlands Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American retired actress, whose career in film, stage, and television has spanned seven decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations ...

, his wife and frequent leading lady, for the main roles, and the production of the film was rushed. However, the production of the film was less traumatic for Cassavetes than he would experience with '' A Child Is Waiting'' (1963), his other early studio film, which was taken from him during editing. Announcements about the projected film appeared in December 1960, February 1961 and July 1961, when two photographs of Stella Stevens being directed by two actors, Edmond O'Brien in '' Man-Trap'' and John Cassavetes in ''Too Late Blues'' (the second photograph included Bobby Darin), were published in ''

The New York Times Sunday Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

''. Billed 4th in the film's credits, Nick Dennis, who portrays a bar owner named "Nick" and 5th-billed Vincent Edwards, playing "Tommy", the tough guy encouraged by Benny to start a fight with "Ghost", were both cast, at the time, in the long-running (1961–66) medical series, '' Ben Casey'', with Edwards playing the title role of the uncompromisingly ill-tempered neurosurgeon and Dennis at the bottom of the supporting cast as the hospital orderly named, again, "Nick". The series was already cast and production on initial episodes started when press notices announcing the upcoming series were published in TV columns during mid-May 1961. It is unclear whether a halt in the filming of ''Ben Casey'', which premiered as part of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's Monday night schedule on October 2, 1961, enabled Dennis and Edwards to fit their scenes into Cassavetes' schedule or if his brief 30-day shoot for the film had already wrapped by the time production started on ''Ben Casey''. Cassavetes and Edwards had known each other since they were classmates at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the late 1940s. In 1955 they both co-starred as escaped convicts in

Andrew L. Stone Andrew L. Stone (July 16, 1902 – June 9, 1999) was an Americans, American screenwriter, film director and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Julie (1956 film), Julie'' in 1957 and re ...

's '' The Night Holds Terror'' and the following year portrayed brothers in conflict over their father's legacy in "The Last Patriarch", the November 28, 1956, episode of '' The 20th Century Fox Hour''. Nick Dennis had also worked with Cassavetes when he played a supporting role in "The Poet's Touch", the November 26, 1959 episode of Cassavetes' series, ''

Johnny Staccato ''Johnny Staccato'' is an American private detective television series starring John Cassavetes which ran for 27 episodes on NBC from September 10, 1959 through March 24, 1960. Synopsis Titular character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassavetes ...

''. Another familiar face among the cast of ''Too Late Blues'', playing a member of the band, was

, who appeared in most of Cassavetes films over the years.

Critical reception

At the time of its release, the film received a poor reception from critics and had a mediocre box office performance. Darin's acting was criticized, as was the film's plot. At the release of a DVD of the film in 2012 however, Dennis Lim of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said Darin and Stevens were surprisingly good in the lead roles, with Darin "willing to appear both arrogant and weak", and Stevens proving her "range and nerve". He also praised Chambers' "indelible, cold-eyed performance". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an aggregate score of 80% based on 8 positive and 2 negative critic reviews.

Legacy

The conflicts in the film paralleled Cassavetes' own difficulties adapting to the studio system, embodied by the Ghost's conflict with Benny. Ghost is portrayed as a purist dedicated only to his art, while Benny seeks to make Ghost compromise to make money. When Ghost refuses, Benny seeks to destroy him. ''New Yorker'' critic Richard Brody observed in 2012, when a DVD of the film was released, that "there’s something Beckett-like in the incantatory force of Cassavetes’s dialogue and images, as well as in his blend of degradation and exaltation." This film and ''A Child Is Waiting'' are often viewed "as footnotes at best, or compromised failures at worst", film critic Dennis Lim commented in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 2012. But the Cassavetes hallmarks ("the delicate way of handling emotional messiness, the tough but ultimately generous view of human behavior") were evident in the film. Lim described the film as "something like a confessional manifesto from the emerging director, 31 when he made it." In a 1971 interview with ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' magazine, Cassavetes lamented that ''Too Late Blues'' never had a chance. He regretted that he succumbed to studio pressure and shot the film in California, not in New York, and in only 30 days, and not the six months that he felt it needed. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on May 29, 2012 by Olive Films.

Paperback novelization

Concurrent with the release of the film, Lancer Books issued a novelization of the screenplay, by Stuart James (1926 – ?). James's previous published work included over 300 short stories sold to crime, mystery, adventure and men's-interest pulp magazines; five original novels of a "higher order" for paperback houses that specialized in soft-core "adult" reading, two under the pseudonym "Max Gareth"; and novelizations of '' Jack the Ripper'', '' The Stranglers of Bombay'', and ''

The Enemy General ''The Enemy General'' is a 1960 American drama war film directed by George Sherman and starring Van Johnson. The film was shot on location in Europe. Plot The setting is World War II. An Office of Strategic Services agent, working with the French ...

'', the last also as Gareth. His by-line would disappear for almost three decades until the late '80s, when he re-emerged as the author of three consecutive espionage novels published as lead titles by

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

Notes

External links

* * * *
''Too Late Blues''
at ''

''
''Too Late Blues''
at ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' (revised form of this 1987 write-up was originally published in ''The Motion Picture Guide'') {{John Cassavetes Films directed by John Cassavetes Films scored by David Raksin 1962 films 1960s musical drama films American black-and-white films 1960s English-language films Paramount Pictures films Jazz films American musical drama films 1961 drama films 1961 films 1962 drama films 1960s American films